First year skunked

[AKBowman]

Well just got back from four days in Willapa hills. Worked elk every day, spooked more than I saw. Did manage to get on two bulls yesterday. Spotted a 3X4 the first day on an isolated ridge working a cow and after a slow day today decided to go back and check to see if he was still there...he was. After about an hour and a half stock through reprod in order to stay out of sight/down wind I was below the ridge the elk was on. Worked my way down the draw stopping about every 100 ft or so for half hour to an hour to glass and never could glass him up, glassed til dark. Then 1-1/2 back to the Mt. Bike. Waited until the last minute to try to call as a last resort with no response.

Learned a ton in my first year of early archery, had a good chance at a bull aqnd saw elk every day.

Question; Seems like most people were seeing more elk than I was. I didnt want to move much in fear of being spotted first so I did a lot of glassing from vantage points over cuts.
 
Do the experienced elk hunters move from cut to cut looking for elk in the open or are you working slow through small pockets?

[bowhunterforever]

The ? is did you learn anything? Thats all that matters. People on here can only give advice thats it!Good luck on years to come.

[AKBowman]

yes i learned something...in fact a learned "a ton". Just looking for a little more general advice on how to hunt when the rut is nill. Run and gun or post up and glass? Thanks.

[stickslinger]

there are so many factors that could decide how you choose to hunt. terrain, how quiet you can stalk, what faze of the rut the elk are in, how much pressure is being put on the elk, weather, and so on.  so what I am getting at is all you can do is try different meathods and see what which works with the situation you are in.
And just when you think you have the elk figured out they will do something totally unexpected.

[boneaddict]

There are books and article after article written on the subject, but the truth be told, you just sort of have to figure it out on your own.  Experience is the best tool ever, and it sounds like you had a good one.  Every style is effective in one condition or another.  Lots of experts out there.  VERY few that are productive constantly. 

[Crunchy]

Tough to say for certain.  The elk are in the nasty stuff at times and not in the clearings.  Need to find the well used trails maybe and go from there?

[AKBowman]

I hunted late season for cows last year in the Willapa and there were very obvious trails being used. It was not the case this year in the early season. It seemed as though the elk were dispersed all over the place.

It was wierd because I would get on a group of elk but not get close enough for my bow so I would work the area trying to figure out where they were bedding and set up an ambush but couldnt find any well used trails. I'd find some tracks with some fresh droppings but never a well used trail that was real tracked up. Seemed to me like they were just hap hazardly wandering around with no real routines.

[NWBREW]

Question; Seems like most people were seeing more elk than I was. I didnt want to move much in fear of being spotted first so I did a lot of glassing from vantage points over cuts.
 
 

Even if you saw 100 elk you still can only tag 1. A couple of years ago me and my hunting partner only saw 3 elk in 5 days. 2 ended up dead on the ground with our tags on them Elk are funny that way. Sometimes you think your in them and you don't see any, sometimes you think you should go somewhere else and find out you should have stayed where you were at.    Scouting and glassing is about the only advice I have . Just don't give up, it will work out.